A Huge Thanks!

So back before DC Challenge was postponed, my buddy Steve (Stevebski here on nation) says to me we need to make an appearance, but we needed to come and rep Arsenal all the way. The next thing I know we're scheming of making "Arsenal shields", painting our faces black/red and making posters.

After it was postponed, the idea was still on. This time around, Steve made some statements in the DC Challenge thread about reppin' and we got some support (btw Jack Crim, you totally didn't come chill with us in the grandstands. Way to break our hearts )

Well... we showed up, paint, shields and all.

We were as loud and obnoxious as we could be. I mean, damn... we're at the DC Challenge and NOBODY is out there starting a riot for Arsenal? This was not good enough. We bought deck seats and cheered as loud and blatant as we could. We got a lot of waves and thumbs-up from the organization and we couldn't have been happier.

Then during a game, Tony Savage walked up to us and chatted a bit and he couldn't have been any nicer. Hell of a guy. He asked if we played, and while I didn't at the time, Steve did, so he gave him an Arsenal pack and we both were like "Dude, that's so awesome".

I'm sure if you were there you could hear all the shouts of "3PEAT" and "A-TOWN STAY-DOWN".

Everywhere we went we were getting pictures taken of us. We felt like damn celebrities.

During one of the non-Arsenal games, we took a seat at the bottom of the grandstands. This dude walks up to us, lookin' like the pimp of all pimps in his aviator sunglasses and black v-cut shirt. He asks us some general stuff like "Where do you live" and "Do you follow the team" and commented on how great our appearance was. Then he was like "I'm Tom Fore, owner of Arsenal" -- Our eyes got huge and our jaws dropped. He was like the coolest dude I've ever met in paintball. After we talked, he came back with VIP passes and T-shirts, but unfortunately we had already bought both, LOL.

Tom once again put some smiles on our faces when he was like "You two, come here, lets get a picture with these Hooter girls"

For those of you who didn't get to see these girls. Lets just say, oh my god they were fine.

Tom also had us stand next to Arsenal holding our signs while they signed autographs and got pictures with fans.

We were then given further VIP treatment by actually being in a photoshoot with the team. Dude, I can't describe how awesome that was. My friggin' cheeks hurt so bad afterwards from smiling so much. Those guys were so awesome and nice. Every last one of them came up to us and thanked us for the support and shook our hands. Class acts, all of them. I couldn't be prouder calling them a home-team.

After the photoshoot we were walking to the pro-shop and Wayne walked up, thanked us again and handed us ANOTHER pack, lol.

Thanks to Arsenal, and the experience that I had at the USPL DC Challenge, my love for paintball has been reignited and I'm coming back strong.

Saturday has been the single greatest time of my life, and no worries boys, you'll have the same 2 clowns out there at Vegas rooting you on. We're both taking off work and flying out... with facepaint and shields. That's a 95% (which is a 19% better chance than what Jack gave us about hanging out... ) possibility as long as we come up with the finances.

Once again, thank you so much guys. You truly made that day simply amazing.

See you at OACC

- Jamie

Oh and btw, C - "also those kids with the face paint and shields were awesome" -- I'm almost 24 and Steve is like 26. We're just short... like 1 step above legal midgets

I'm gonna have to follow up Jamie's post with a big dot. I got to spend time with the home team Champions, meet all sorts of people I never thought I would meet and get my picture taken with all the players I've looked up to since I started playing. I'm gonna have to say my face hurt from smiling too much also.

When we make it out to Vegas, we're gonna have some different things we can actually take on the plane with us. Checking a giant shield, I've been advised, is a tough thing to do. Regardless, I have the time off, we just need to work on accomodations and get our butts out there to scream for the cold blooded killers of DC.

Not to many times you hear people cheering for Arsenal, we are mostly in hostile crowds (West Coast) but it was a welcome change. You guys need any playing gear or such, hit me up and I'll hook you guys up.

I remember you guys. You definately were having a good time and actually made the event a bit cooler. Props to Tom and the boys for showing their appreciation to the fans. I think it's great that you two had such an awesome day.

I will be there for the entire event this time, not just one day. I've already taken leave for it and have the face paint sitting in my truck. I may bring a plastic cone to scream through so I have more of a voice by the end of the day though. That whole voice cracking thing after screaming all morning was not so good.